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Karachi Kings suffered a stop-start batting performance and eventually went down

The Report by Peter Della Penna23-Feb-2020How the game played outQuetta Gladiators out-grafted Karachi Kings on Sunday afternoon in a far from glamorous win by five wickets. Imad Wasim became the first captain all year to choose to bat first at the toss, and he may be the last one to do so for some time based on the way his team responded.A stodgy Kings innings was full of fits and starts as four batsmen crossed 20, but none of them were able to reach 30 with Mohammad Hasnain and Tymal Mills doing their best to keep the Kings off balance with regular changes of pace. Yet despite so many nondescript individual efforts, Kings were still able to cobble together 156.Gladiators nearly bungled what should have been a simple chase thanks to a trio of run-outs, not to mention a trio of other run-out chances that the Kings failed to convert in the field. When Azam Khan was the third run-out victim for 46 to start the 18th, it looked like the door might be left ajar for an unlikely Kings rally in the field as Mohammad Nawaz skied a slower ball to deep midwicket for the fifth wicket a short time later. But after entering at No. 7, Anwar Ali drove his first ball from Chris Jordan over mid-off for four, then ended the match three balls later heaving Jordan for six over long-on to clinch victory with an over to spare.Turning pointWith 34 needed off 24 balls on what had been a difficult wicket to get going for most of the day, Sarfaraz Ahmed flipped a switch, clubbing the first two balls of the 17th over from Arshad Iqbal over the midwicket rope for six and four. Azam top-edged a hook over fine leg for another boundary two balls later in what turned out to be a 17-run over, the most expensive of the match for either side. It brought the required run rate under a run a ball and despite a brief wobble losing two wickets in the next seven balls, Gladiators held their nerve behind Anwar’s cool finish.Star of the dayAzam Khan’s straight driving was superb, accounting for both of his sixes and another of his fours as he top-scored on the day with 46 off 30 balls before being run-out by Mohammad Amir on an athletic effort spinning to fire down the stumps at the non-striker’s end off his own bowling. He offered several chances but continued to be a thorn in the side of the Kings bowlers as long as he stayed at the crease. Alongside Sarfaraz, the pair added 85 for the fourth wicket to navigate Gladiators chase. Needing 90 off the last 10 overs, the pair made it look relatively comfortable.The big missSo many to choose from in the field as both sides could not capitalise on numerous chances. But Arshad Iqbal blew a pair of opportunities to run out Azam relatively early in his innings. The first came when Azam was on 18 in the 12th over at 80 for 3. After flicking a full-length ball off his pads from Arshad to Mohammad Amir at short fine leg, Sarfaraz caught Azam off guard calling for a tight run. Amir’s relay to the non-striker’s stumps had Azam beat by five yards but Arshad fumbled the take in the midst of scrambling into position over the stumps.In Arshad’s next over in the 14th, Sarfaraz tapped into short midwicket and called for a second run with Azam struggling badly trying to come back. Though Azam practically dropped his bat in desperation trying to stretch for the second, the throw by Arshad bounced over the stumps again at the non-striker’s end on 28.Where the teams standGladiators now top the table on four points after three matches. Kings are locked with three other teams in second place on two points, but are in fifth based on their inferior net run rate.

England’s vice-captain admitted there were “obvious risks” involved and said they would accept it if Ashley Giles decided they should no longer play

George Dobell in Barbados14-Jan-2019Jos Buttler has admitted it “probably doesn’t make too much sense” for England to play football as part of their training routine.Butter, England’s vice-captain, insisted the players were “very careful” and tried to keep things safe while playing. But he conceded there were “obvious risks” involved and confirmed they would accept it if Ashley Giles decided they should no longer play.Giles, the new managing director of England men’s cricket, recently said he was uncomfortable with the idea of football as part of the warm-up regime. While he suggested he would talk to the captains and coaches before reaching a decision, he did hint there may be a change of approach.While Buttler would regret that decision, he said he could understand it. Jonny Bairstow sustained an ankle injury while playing football near the start of the Sri Lanka tour and subsequently lost his place as wicketkeeper to Ben Foakes. Several other players have suffered similarly over the years.But the players argue that it has helped foster a strong team spirit – new players, for example, are made captains of the teams in order to aid integration – and insist that, with sensible precations, such as the ‘no-tackling’ rule that has been in place for a few years, it is no more dangerous than most sporting activities.”I love it,” Buttler said. “It’s been a fun part of our warm-ups for a while and I enjoy playing it. The guys are very careful. We’re not professionals but we enjoy a kick around and we try to stay as safe as possible.”But I understand his point of view because it probably doesn’t make too much sense for us to warm up playing football. There are obvious risks.”So if that’s his final decision then that’s it. There will be discussions between coaches, captains and Ashley Giles and if it’s decided we can’t play anymore I don’t think the guys will be too bothered. We’ll just get on with it.”Stuart Broad has a look at Jos Buttler’s bat at training•Getty Images

England start their first warm-up game – a non-first-class two-day match that will involve at least 12-players per side – at the Three Ws Oval in Barbados on Tuesday. As is the nature of these things now, England are expected to bat the whole of one day and field for the whole of another irrespective of how many wickets fall. Olly Stone has a slightly stiff back so he may therefore sit out the first match. The squad played football as part of their warm-up routine on Monday.The opposition, a CWI President’s XI, contains six men with Test experience – batsmen Sunil Ambris, Jermaine Blackwood, who scored his only Test century against England on the 2015 tour, and Vishaul Singh; allrounder Raymon Reifer, and fast bowlers Alzarri Joseph and Miguel Cummins – and will be captained by the keeper, Jahmar Hamilton.A second two-day warm-up – on the same ground, against the same opposition and almost certainly with the same liberal attitude to cricketing conventions – starts on Thursday.It is understood groundstaff have been encouraged to prepare pitches with a bit of life, a characteristic that has not always been present in the Caribbean in recent years, throughout the Test series; the use of the Dukes ball should also be to the liking of bowlers.England have won only one Test series here in the last 50 years – Michael Vaughan’s 2004 squad are the honourable expectations – so the size of the challenge in front of them should not be underestimated.CWI squad: Jahmar Hamilton (captain and keeper), Sunil Ambris, Jermaine Blackwood, John Campbell, Bryan Charles, Miguel Cummins, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Chemar Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Raymon Reifer, Vishaul Singh,
Devon ThomasEngland squad: Keaton Jennings, Rory Burns, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root (captain), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Ben Foakes (keeper), Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.

Mark Wood has not given up hope of playing in the Ashes and has his eyes fixed on a return in Perth

George Dobell in Brisbane22-Nov-2017Mark Wood has not given up hope of playing in the Ashes and has his eyes fixed on a return in Perth. But even if Wood plays no part in the series, he says he will never give up on his dream of playing Test cricket and has no intention of pursuing a future as a white-ball specialist.Wood, whose career has been blighted by a series of injuries to his left ankle, returned to the England nets this week. As a member of the England Lions squad – effectively the second XI – he was employed to test the batsmen playing in Brisbane while ensuring the first-team bowlers were spared.In an ideal world he would have been a member of the England squad rather than a net bowler. But, after two slightly underwhelming Tests against South Africa – Wood suggests his Test career to date deserves only a 5/10 rating – he was diagnosed with a bruised left heel and, upon further investigation, some ligament damage was also found. While he was able to return to the Durham team just before the end of the season, the England selectors did not think he had shown enough to warrant selection for the Ashes tour.Even a week or two ago, when England were looking for a replacement for Steven Finn and, potentially, Jake Ball, Wood was discounted as it was feared he was not back to match fitness.He remains highly rated by the England management, however. Ottis Gibson said he was the outstanding pace-bowling prospect in England when he resigned the bowling coach role in September and, despite being left out of the tour, he was reassured by the management that he could still play a part in the series if he proved his fitness.”I had meetings with Andrew Strauss, Trevor Bayliss and James Whitaker at the end of the season,” Wood said. “They said that if I got my body right I’d be in a position still to have an impact in the series.”I’ve got a chance but you have to wait for injuries. I’m not here to put any of the lads under pressure and I’ve had enough injuries to know you don’t want people to go through that. But if there is an injury I might be in the background and out with the Lions doing well and I can just slot in.”I’d say I’m bowling at about 80%, at the moment. My action feels good, but I’ve got no overs under my belt. I’m playing against Queensland on Monday and then we head to Perth. I’ve heard numerous things about the WACA nets so I’m looking forward to that. If I can build it up and impress in those WACA nets, then hopefully I can play some part in the series.”Wood admits he has struggled to deal with the disappointment and frustration the injuries have caused, but he will not entertain a future either as a white-ball specialist – where he could probably make a fortune on the T20 circuit – or by reducing his pace.”I’ll never go the white-ball route, no,” Wood said. “This – Test cricket – is the ultimate for me. I’m still hoping that at some point I might be part of this series. It is a long series. If there is an injury, I’m hoping to be raring to go.”And pace with skill is the killer for me. If I can ramp it up, the pace makes me different from everyone else. But I can add that with a little bit of skill that hopefully makes me one of the best around.”I do find it difficult with the injuries. It’s hard. It was tough on Tuesday seeing all the lads preparing and I was with the Lions lads. It was nice to see everyone but it’s hard to be on the edge of things and not amongst it. It is obviously a huge occasion for everyone here.”Having good friends and family helps you cope, I guess. And I’ve done a lot of work with the England psychologist. There are times when I thought I wouldn’t get back to playing for England and then, when I do get back, I wanted to stay there.”So it has been immensely frustrating. Every operation I had, I came back thinking the rehab was tough but this last year I found mentally harder than anything.”I felt I was in a battle with myself. I’ve always been a free-spirited sort of guy who just run in bowled, but this year I had more on my mind. I spent plenty of time over the last four or five weeks of the season in a battle with myself thinking is it going to hurt when I land.”The latest attempt to fix his ankle has seen him undergo a series of procedures where sugar is injected into his ankle ligaments. While the experience is clearly unpleasant, Wood feels the pain is worthwhile if it provides him an opportunity to prove himself in Test cricket.”They’re horrible injections,” he said. “Though I suppose I should be tougher coming from up north. It basically messes up your ligament. It scars it up and when it heals it heals itself tighter. They say it should work long term. It’s not an injury connected to my previous operations.”I really do believe in myself. I have a lot of self-belief and I think that if I can get back to a position when I’m in a good place physically and I can show how good I can be. I don’t think I’ve quite lived up to that yet. There’s been the odd glimpse in my England career so far, but I’ve never lived up to my own expectations or probably other people’s.”I’ve never experienced touring Australia. I’ve been to the Gold Coast playing club cricket but to be here at the Gabba is something I’d like to be a part of. Playing at the MCG on Boxing Day would be a pretty good dream.”

After pummeling 178 to help South Africa surge to a big win over Australia, Quinton de Kock said it was a good wicket to bat on and it was simply his day

Daniel Brettig01-Oct-2016Quinton de Kock believes he’s played better innings than the brutal 178 that destroyed Australia’s bowlers to deliver victory for South Africa in the first ODI at Centurion.On a friendly pitch, de Kock was able to capitalise on Australia’s failure to mount a truly intimidating score after a fast start. He also took advantage of a visiting bowling attack that had been weakened by the resting of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.”It was the most free [flowing] knock that I’ve played,” de Kock told reporters after the match. “But I’ve played a couple of other knocks that I’ve enjoyed more, where I’ve had to work hard for the runs.”Those are the type of knocks that I enjoy. I had to work hard for the runs today, but it was just my day I guess. The wicket was quite nice to play on, it allowed me to play my natural game. Hopefully there will be a couple more wickets like that in the series. Then we can have some more fun.”Though he conceded the bowling was not up to scratch, Australia’s captain Steven Smith was more concerned by the way his batsmen were unable to mount a large enough total. In the absence of Starc and Hazlewood, Smith is aware big scores are required.”I thought we started off quite poorly with the ball, we gave him a few freebies to get away,” Smith said. “We were a bit too short and a bit too wide at times. And from there it just looked like he got in a rhythm, and it felt like every ball was going to the boundary at one point.”We got a nice wicket to bat on and we gave some opportunities away.
We got a lot of starts and nobody was able to go on and get a big score like Quinton de Kock did. So going forward it’s the responsibility of one of our top four to post a big total, and if we do that then the team total is going to be big as well.”

ICC’s David Richardson and Tim Anderson will lead a town hall meeting in Chicago on Saturday as part of the efforts to engage stakeholders in the wake of USACA’s June suspension

Peter Della Penna28-Aug-2015ICC chief executive David Richardson and head of global development Tim Anderson will lead a town hall meeting in Chicago on Saturday as part of the ICC’s efforts to engage stakeholders and bring disparate factions together in the wake of USACA’s suspension at the ICC annual conference in June.Anderson was one of several ICC representatives who arrived in Chicago on Thursday night and said he hoped the meeting will encourage open dialogue. Richardson was expected to spend part of the meeting directly discussing the background to USACA’s suspension and Anderson hoped a Q & A session between ICC staff and stakeholders may unlock solutions to some of the problems that have plagued US cricket in recent years.”The key focus for us for the day is that we’re looking to kick off the strategy development process and we want to talk to the stakeholders and leagues about what they think are the most important cricketing aspects of the game in this country moving forward,” Anderson told ESPNcricinfo on Thursday. Prior to the meeting, the ICC sent out a survey to select stakeholders last week to find out what areas of concern were the highest priorities for them, ranking a list of wide-ranging topics from lowest to highest in terms of importance. The survey data will be used for discussion sessions during the meeting.”They are relatively simple questions around areas of key interest within US cricket, cricket related issues and trying to get a sense from the community as to priorities and perhaps why some things have worked and why some things haven’t,” Anderson said. “Junior development, women’s cricket, fundraising, performance of teams are all key issues and we’re trying to get an understanding of what the community feels about all of those things.”Anderson said that 80 leagues from around the country had received direct invitations to participate in the meeting, which will take place beginning at 9:30 am at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at O’Hare International Airport in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont. He said although the ICC expected most of the attendees to be league representatives, the meeting was open to all cricket stakeholders and anyone was encouraged to come and participate in the various dialogues taking place throughout the day.”One of the key things that we want to be as much as possible during this whole process and during the day on Saturday is as open and transparent as we can be,” Anderson said. “Even though we invited some specific people, it’s actually an open meeting. Anyone can come but we invited the people that we really wanted to be there, the league representatives. In terms of the stakeholders we thought were most important, the leagues we thought were most important so the large majority of invitations were sent to the leagues.”The political affiliations within the US cricket system aren’t of interest to us in this process. We’ve invited leagues aligned to USACA, aligned ACF, aligned to both and neither. So we anticipate a really diverse spread of people to attend. Our local advisory group will also attend and at this point we anticipate 70 or 80 people to attend. If we are able to get 70-80 people in the room from a wide diverse landscape of US cricket, we think that would be a really positive thing.”For anyone unable to attend Saturday’s town hall meeting, Anderson said that he did not envision this to be the last opportunity for stakeholders to interact with the ICC staff or the ICC’s local advisory group during the strategy development process.”We obviously got a good sense during the review group process that domestic cricket in the USA is very disconnected and we want to try to help the community rectify that situation,” Anderson said. “We might open the survey up again after the meeting to a wider group of people to get their feedback as well. We want to try to connect with as many people as we can.”

Sri Lanka’s erstwhile captain Tillakaratne Dilshan and their likely next leader Angelo Mathews did their best to drag their team back into the Test on the third day at Bellerive Oval, but a relentless Peter Siddle ensured Australia remained well on top

The Report by Brydon Coverdale16-Dec-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Tillakaratne Dilshan made 147•Getty Images

Sri Lanka’s erstwhile captain Tillakaratne Dilshan and their likely next leader Angelo Mathews did their best to drag their team back into the Test on the third day at Bellerive Oval, but a relentless Peter Siddle ensured Australia remained well on top. Again the weather in Hobart was fickle, leading to all sorts of session adjustments, and by the time a late stumps time arrived Australia’s advantage had grown to 141, leaving them to set Sri Lanka a target over the next two days.David Warner and Ed Cowan had reached stumps safely, Cowan on 16 and Warner on 8, and Australia were 0 for 27. There had been nervous moments for both men – Cowan would have been lbw on 5 had Nuwan Kulasekara convinced his captain to ask for a review, and Warner edged just wide of second slip – but all that mattered was that they had survived.The Sri Lankans had been dismissed for 336 during the final session, their last four wickets falling for 20 runs after Dilshan and Mathews had earlier batted for the best part of two sessions without letting the Australians break through. Australia’s cause was not helped by an injury to Ben Hilfenhaus, who left the field with a suspected side strain while bowling his fourth over, and it meant plenty of extra work for the rest of the attack. It was a good thing they had Siddle.Against the South Africans in Adelaide last month, Siddle had carried Australia’s bowling in a similar situation, when James Pattinson had suffered an injury mid-match, and here again he was the man to whom Michael Clarke turned. Siddle responded by attacking the stumps, drying up runs, accumulating maidens and eventually was rewarded with a five-wicket haul, including the key dismissals of Mathews for 75 and Prasanna Jaywardene for 40.